Pegs and Holes
by Zeralul
Summary: Mugi Awaya is faced with multiple choices, but he can only see one answer. Will he end up choosing with his gut, despite what his brain tells him?
1. Chapter 1

"Mugiiii! Where do you think you're off to?"

Mugi looked up from the dirt path home and groaned. "None of your business."

The girl ran in front of his path and put her hands on her hips, pouting.

"Umm, what's up with the pigtails?"

"Y-you noticed?" She started to blush but shook her head. "Hey! Like I was saying, where do you think you're off to?"

"And why are you puffing your cheeks like that?"

"Hmph!" She remained in his way.

"Like I said, none of your business, Noriko."

His mother had told him to hurry home after school, and he was pretty damn sure she wanted to rag on him for his poor grades, just like she had been doing for the past few nights.

"Oh, I'm certain that whatever you're doing, you would rather walk me home instead," she prattled on.

"Noriko. Just move out of the way, please."

"Not until you agree to walk me home."

Mugi snorted. "OK, fine."

Noriko smirked and began to walk by his side. He was imagining the ensuing conversation with his mom and drawing out a battle plan. Noriko was looking as if she had just won the lottery, and she was slowly but definitely getting closer to him. Could she make it more obvious?

They reached her house. "Alright, we're here. See you tomorrow, Noriko."

"Well, aren't you in a hurry? You don't have even a minute to spare?"

"No. Bye."

"You're insufferable!"

"Oh, I know."

He waved goodbye with a giant smile, which he immediately dropped once he faced away. He sighed and began the three minute trek to his house. When he opened the door and walked inside, he heard talking.

"He's bright, you know? But he's just having some difficulties with math," he heard his mother say.

"Mmm, I see. That's understandable!" a female voice responded.

Was that one of his mom's friends? He didn't recognize the voice, but it sounded way too understanding. Mugi threw off his shoes and shouted, "I'm home!"

There was some shuffling, and his mom oh-so-sweetly said, "Oh, there he is now. Mugi, come in here!"

Mugi walked into the dining room and found his mom sitting there with a woman. By his standards, she was a woman, but she must have been in her early 20s. Her lips were soft and supple. She had gorgeous, light long hair. He could tell that her conservative dress hid a stunning figure. He bit his tongue hard to distract him from the feeling coming from below.

"Yeah, uh, hi! I'm Mugi." He bowed.

She stood up with a smile. "It's so nice to meet you! I'm Ms… I mean Mrs. Minagawa!"

He narrowed his eyes. She stuck out her hand, and Mugi shook it after a brief delay.

"I'm going to be your tutor for the next year. I look forward to working with you," she said.

He fashioned up a smile. "Oh, great. Thanks for being so thoughtful, _Mom_."

His mom shot back, "Mugi, I'm just trying to do what's best for you. I want you to make it into high school, and the way you're going now-"

"Alright, alright, I get it. It's fine," he growled, but he took a look at Mrs. Minagawa. She seemed full of concern, so he softened his tone. "Really. I appreciate it. Or I'm sure I will eventually."

"I'm glad. Let's do our best, then!" Mrs. Minagawa spouted.

Wasn't she an never-ending ray of sunshine!

* * *

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm being tutored now, so I gotta get home."

"Walk me home first!"

"Ugh, fine." No way he was dealing with her nagging again.

"You don't have to say it like that, Mugi."

They were walking in pleasant silence when Noriko interrupted:

"Let me guess, math?"

"Shut up."

"Oh, so I guessed right! I know you so well, Mugi."

"Want a medal?"

"I'm just stating the obvious."

More relaxing silence. Her hand then brushed against his, and he increased his distance from her. He mentally sighed.

"Well, here we are. Do you require anything else, your Highness?"

"You are relieved, my dear prince. May we meet again soon!"

Mugi pulled out some retching noises and walked away as Noriko laughed her haughty laugh. Three minutes later, he was at his house.

"Mugi, why are you late?" his mom spat in a whisper. "Get to your room this instant. She's been here for a while already!"

"Sorry, I'm going."

As he approached, he saw Mrs. Minagawa sitting at his desk on a newly-placed chair, her face propped up on her hand, elbow on the desk. Mugi knocked on the open door and Mrs. Minagawa immediately spun around with a huge grin.

"There you are! Come and have a seat so we can begin."

If she was surprised at how bad he was at math, she didn't show it. It seemed like her grin was plastered on, and her voice got higher and higher pitched as time passed. His math skills were not improving either. He kept stealing glances at her. Her perfume or whatever was the source of her scent smelled nice. Shampoo, maybe? How did her hands look so soft? She probably moisturized often. Perhaps that was the origin of the nice smell?

An hour later, the arduous trial was over and Mrs. Minagawa put down her pen. She gathered her things into her bag and stood.

"My time is up now. Work on what I've assigned to you and we'll meet again next week."

He looked at her, starting from her feet and quickly scanning up to her face. "Oh, sure."

She nodded and smiled at him before leaving. Mugi looked over the notes he had written down. Gibberish. He sighed. If this was to be the result of his future lessons, then his mom would definitely fire her and resign him to the fate of being a failure. Mrs. Minagawa's scent still lingered. He vowed that he would study some more on his own time to keep her coming. New prospects were always worth exploring.


	2. Chapter 2

So that was that. Mrs. Minagawa was a complete goody two-shoes. After a few sessions, Mugi was convinced that she had never spoken a bad word or had an impure thought in her life. She hummed while she worked and she had a smile plastered on her face all the time. She never got frustrated with him, despite his slow progress with math. The only notable reactions she had was when she couldn't solve one of them problems herself. She would go "Ehh?", furl her eyebrows, and flip furiously through the answer key to find the correct method. Otherwise, her appearance remained immaculate. Honestly, it was a little scary.

Part of the reason Mugi wasn't learning so well was because Mrs. Minagawa smelled so damn nice. His room smelled of her when he entered and after she left. None of the girls at school ever smelled so good.

"...and that's your assignment this week. Got it?"

"Yeah, smells good! I mean… sounds good!" he blurt out.

"Ok Mugi, I'll see you next week then. Please try to make more progress…" she chastised with a playful grin. She bent over to pick up her bag. Without shame, Mugi's eyes drifted slightly. He could swear she paused a bit longer than she needed to before she lifted the bag up and wore it on her shoulder. She then looked at him with the sweetest expression and said, "Bye now!"

With a twirl, she was gone. Oh, how wonderful it was to be in the presence of a real woman. And how miserable it was to be stuck doing math the whole time.

"Mom, I'm going to the convenience store. I need to treat myself after all this hard work."

"Yeah, whatever, honey. See you later."

* * *

Mugi picked out a popsicle and a bottle of soda and was checking out when he felt someone poke him in the back. He flinched and almost dropped his belongings. He turned around; it was none other than Mei Hayakawa. She was one grade higher than him, but they hung out so often that they could be classmates.

"You dolt. I barely touched you," Mei giggled.

"I'm sensitive there. You hit my weak spot."

"Oh, man up!" she responded, playfully shoving him.

"Can this wait until I buy this stuff?"

"Wow, you bought a popsicle for me? You really know how to respect your elders."

"Ugh..."

* * *

"Eww. Why'd you pick grape?" she asked between slurps. They sat at the bench outside the store. Mugi sipped on his soda while Mei was working at the popsicle.

"Umm, because I like grape?"

She sighed. "You're so weird. You're never going to make it in the real world with taste like that. What am I going to do with you?"

"I don't know, keep taking my stuff?"

"Sounds good to me."

They slurped at the same time.

"Hey Mei, I got a question for you."

"Oh, really? Have you been thinking? That's a dangerous pastime for you, you know."

"Oh, shut up! I was just wondering… do you ever wear perfume?"

"Sometimes. Why?"

"My math tutor wears this really strong perfume and… it's really stinking up my room. I want to get the smell out."

"Yeah, no kidding. I can smell some of it on you right now."

"No way." Mugi smelled himself. "Oh, you're right."

"That makes sense. My running hypothesis was that you wanted to explore your feminine side, but I guess it makes sense that it was from your tutor."

Mugi snorted. "Anyways, no joke though, she's really pretty."

Mei blinked. "Oh? Is she princess pretty or what?"

"Kind of. But I'd describe her more as 'hot' pretty."

"Oh, I see… no wonder you still suck at math!" she exclaimed and laughed.

"Yeah, I know. It's honestly distracting. With that, on top of her perfume, I can't think at all."

Mei put her hand on his shoulder and gave him a grave look. "Mugi. Your education is of the utmost importance to me. As your senior, it is my duty to make sure that you excel in your studies. Let's see… meet me here at the same time tomorrow, and I'll see what I can do to help." She nodded, determined, mostly to herself.

"Uh, alright, Mei."

She gave a thumbs up with her popsicle still in one hand and took a swig of his soda with her other. Before he could react to the sugar theft, she got up and left.

* * *

"I'm home!"

Mugi made his way back up to his room and braced himself. He opened the door and stepped in. The wave of perfume hit him and he closed his eyes. When he inhaled, he could picture Mrs. Minagawa sitting next to him, her gentle hand working its way across his pages, looking at the equations with purpose. He saw her gently tuck a strand of her hair back behind her ear, slowly running the hand along the side of her head. He saw her turn to look at him, but he couldn't quite place what her eyes were saying. She wore a smile, but her eyes were empty like a doll's eyes. He felt a sudden urge to hug her and put some life back into her, but he opened his eyes and stood in the middle of his room, alone.

 _Man… what am I doing?_ He laid down on his bed and opened his math textbook over his face.

 _I always knew that math was going to kill me._


End file.
